Xcerion takes on Microsoft, Google?

The latest import is Xcerion, a Swedish startup that is developing a free Internet-based operating system that allows people to access their documents from any computer. The Linkoping, Sweden-based company — which could set some kind of record by being in “stealth mode” for the past six years — has a branch office in Seattle and some notable investors from the area.

Among the early backers of the company are Ignition Partners’ John Connors, the former chief financial officer at Microsoft; Lou Perazzoli, a former general manager in Microsoft’s operating system group; and Terry Drayton, the former chief executive of HomeGrocer.com. Northzone Ventures, a Scandinavian venture capital fund, just invested $10 million.

Drayton described the company as “amazing,” adding that it is a “paradigm-changing software.”

If those words don’t get the attention of Microsoft or Google, the company’s press release (PDF) today notes that Xcerion’s goal is to provide an “alternative for consumers and small businesses world-wide that are seeking a simpler, cheaper and more effective way of everyday computing.” It plans to deliver hundreds of free applications in the coming years, utilizing XML as the base for the operating system. The official launch of the first products will begin this summer.

The company has already trademarked phrases such as “Every computer is my computer” and “Software should be free — unless you charge for it.”